RIP Arkedo Studio

It's always a sad day when a game-development studio closes its doors, but it's an especially sad one when the studio in question was known for putting out quality games.

Given that, it's likely that bucket-loads of tears are being wept in response to the news that no more games will be produced by Arkedo Studio, the company responsible for Big Bang Mini (DS), the Arkedo Series of XBLIG titles and Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit (XBLA, PSN and PC).

According to a blog post written by co-founder Aurelien Regard, the company "is still here. But no one’s employed anymore.

"Arkedo hasn’t closed down and is not bankrupt," he adds, but "no more games are [being] produced, either."

Fans of Arkedo Studio's past efforts may take a bit of solace in the fact that two "small" and as-yet-unknown games will still be released by the company, although Regard didn't say when that will happen or which systems will be the recipient of them.

See also: 'Five XBLIG games you should have played, but probably didn't' and 'Shucks, this could have been a cool game ...'

Five XBLIG games you should have played, but probably didn't

To those of you wondering why I'm not including retail or even XBLA releases in this post: I'm not including the former because I have just one such game (Deadly Premonition) and I'm not including the latter because pretty much all of the XBLA titles I've purchased thus far are high-profile ones, and I'm trying to focus on under-appreciated releases in this series of posts. (Here's one that focuses on DS games you should have played, but probably didn't, and here's one that focuses on Wii games.)

1. Arkedo Series: 03 Pixel!--Can a more charming platformer be found via the XBLIG service? If so, I've yet to come across it. Even if one were to present itself to me, it wouldn't cause me to change my mind about the fact that Arkedo Series: 03 Pixel! is more charming than it has any right to be. How else would you describe a run-and-jump title that puts you in the, er, paws of a big-headed cat who has to--you guessed it--run and jump his way though a bunch of beautifully rendered (in blue and white) stages while avoiding assorted baddies. Admittedly, Pixel! won't win any awards for uniqueness (although it incorporates occasional mini-games in a rather clever manner), nor will it win any awards for length or difficulty, but who really cares when the overall experience is this tight, simple and fun?

2. Escape Goat--If you're looking to pick up a great puzzler-platformer via XBLIG, Escape Goat is your game. Why? It looks like a Genesis game--a good one, mind you--for starters. (It kind of sounds like one, too, now that I'm thinking of it.) I can't say it plays like one because, well, I don't believe I ever played a puzzler-platformer on Sega's 16-bit system. Regardless, this one is a joy to play. In part that's because controlling the main character--the titular goat--feels great, which makes traversing the game's many obstacles (it is a puzzler, after all) a snap, and in part it's because everything--the gameplay, graphics and music--comes together to produce a most captivating experience.

'We do not see piracy as [a] big evil'

That's just one of the many interesting things Camille Guermonprez, founder of Paris-based Arkedo Studio, has to say in this recent interview with EDGE magazine's Chris Donlan.

Case in point:

"We acknowledge that a large number of copies have been pirated for both games (Nervous Brickdown and Big Bang Mini), but we don’t think of them as lost sales. Rationally, we try to give people a reason to buy our games, like pricing them below the usual price, taking extra care for the game manual with silly jokes or making lenticular sleeves like we did for Big Bang Mini."

A scene from Arkedo Series 03: Pixel!

Also:

"Sales [of the Arkedo Series titles] are decent, but do not cover expenses yet. That’s okay, because we see XNA as a quick way to give birth to games, and then we’ll see what we do with them after that. Pixel!, for instance, was kind of proof that the concept worked, and I would not be too surprised to see other iterations from Pastagames out of this original idea."

By the way, Guermonprez mentions at the end of the interview that the Arkedo Series may soon show up on PSN. "The good news is that it will not be just a compilation," he says. "It will be our first time on PSN, so we want to come with something more."

See also: 'Shucks, this could have been a cool game ...' and 'Is it strange that I want a 360 just so I can play XBLA games?'